A Rusted Neglect
by IceKat9494
Summary: Bardock has never liked Raditz all too much, and likewise. His temper with the boy can't be controlled. But when a dark encounter seizes them both, it may change their opinions forever.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: HELLO MAH BUDDIES :D and welcome to "A Tarnished Regret" I credit my good friend ProjectSSSS123 for grammar assistance, plus a couple sentences are hers. I also credit the REAL owners on DBZ for giving me something to write about. I don't own DBZ or DB or GT or OMG (lol) **

**I hope you enjoy heartfelt stories! (Also cursing. Loooooots of cursing :3) They both talk like sailors. Aaaand here we go!**

_~Beta-Read By ProjectSSSS123, The Only Bardock Lover~_

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Chapter One: The Worrier

"Dad, I'm home!" Raditz called as he stepped in the doorway, his tail wrapped carefree around his waist. His father, Bardock, was reading the paper, as usual, not taking in a single word of his son.

Bardock looked up for a moment. "So?" he asked before shoving his face back in the crinkly paper. Raditz, in his opinion, did NOT concern him, only his wife, Naira, cared about the weakling.

Raditz rolled his eyes. On any normal day, he would have changed out of his nerdy school uniform and gone straight to the forest to hang out with his best friends, June, (Junipuru) Skik, (Skikatura) and Kuru; But his mom was in the hospital with _LukÏvazic _virus,a relatively new disease that was spreading around the planet. It caused a Saiyan's energy to decrease exponentially.

The boy dropped his bag on the ground, not caring to acknowledge the fact that his _Namekian Biology_ textbook had fallen out lazily onto the floor. "Did you visit mom today?" he asked, a sliver of hope in his voice.

Bardock sighed, casually tossing the paper onto the table. "I'll get around to it eventually. I've been too busy with lots of massive genocide on other planets." Feeling satisfied, he sat back in his chair, closing his eyes, preparing for a nap.

Well, a _certain _boy interrupted it.

Raditz gaped at him. Dad _was_ just a cruel, heartless jackass. "Dad, she's probably waiting for you! _WHY_ are you such an asshole?" The boy lashed his tail.

He didn't see what was coming next though.

Very slowly, Bardock leaned back into his seat and stood up slowly to his full height, staring down at the young boy. He was stiff-legged with full-blown Saiyan rage, more welling up inside him. "What…" he asked, his voice dangerously quiet. "Did you just call me?"

Although he was afraid, Raditz stood up a bit taller and clenched his fists. He would _not_ dare to back down. Finally, he was getting back at his father! "An asshole!" he repeated. "A lazy, Kami-damned, sonofabitch drunken asshole!"

Bardock clenched the boy's shirt collar and lifted him off the ground a bit, almost chocking the young boy.

"Why did you say that?" his voice was soft, already harboring dark intentions. He dropped the boy to the hard wood floor, an effort in intimidating him. It had worked.

Raditz was now scared shitless, but he wasn't letting up. He began his argument, first at normal volume, and then he slowly increased to shouts.

"You leave your sick wife in the hospital; you chuck my little brother to Earth as an infant, you make my life a living HELL, AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF, YOU TREAT ME LIKE YOUR FUCKING SERVANT!"

Bardock advanced on his son, gritting his teeth, his tail lashing, his Saiyan fury at it's peak now. "You little fucker. You know NOTHING about Kakarot and the Hell I went through. Besides, if I hadn't been cursed with such a FAILURE for a son, MAYBE I would be NICER!" He shoved Raditz to the floor, and he quickly scrambled back to his feet.

His face was twisted with rage, and he looked like he had a lot more to say, but he eventually gave up. He shoved his dad with all his power, but considering he was just a kid, it didn't do much. Raditz put his foot down and spat at the ground. "I WISH YOU WEREN'T MY FATHE-"

_Thwack…_

For a split second, there was silence, and then a whine of pain, silent, but present in Raditz's throat. He finally felt it. Making direct contact with his left eye was his father's fist, slightly bloodied from clenching it so hard. Raditz fell to the ground with a loud, wooden thud, rubbing his left eye.

Bardock slowly drew his fist back. He proved his point, even if he REALLY wanted to kill the kid. He brought his fury into one point: his voice.

"WELL I WISH YOU WEREN'T MY SON!" Bardock shouted. "Don't you EVER fuck with me AGAIN!"

Raditz coughed and stood up. One side of his face was disturbingly darkened with a hideous black eye. He growled. _Why don't you like me Dad!?_ He wanted to scream. _All I want is for you to care about your Kami-Damned family! All I EVER wanted was for you to be proud of me!_

Raditz only said,"I'm going to June's. At least SHE knows what 'kindness' means!"

As he turned on his heels, Bardock blocked the doorway and laughed. "No WAY am I letting you go see that dike." He countered, throwing his head back into a great laugh.

Raditz roared. "SHE AIN'T A KAMI-DAMNED DIKE! LET ME SEE MY GIRLFRIEND!" Dad was such a jackass ALL the time!

Bardock laughed harder, although he was quite furious with his stubborn son. "I know she ain't a dike, boy." He gave a smug smirk. "But she ain't your girlfriend either."

The longhaired boy snarled. "Yes she IS!"

His father crossed his arms. He raised his eyebrow. "You ever kiss her?"

Raditz blushed. He could feel himself shrinking "No."

"You ever tell her she's hot?" said Bardock, almost laughing hysterically now. This was comedy!

Raditz blushed deeper. "Just 'cause you're a pervert doesn't mean I am!"

As Raditz pushed his way to leave, the boy's father tripped him and watched him hit the ground with a _smack_, a devilish grin on his face.

"Then she isn't your girlfriend." He said simply.

Raditz jumped to his feet. "WHATEVER!" he screamed in anger. He stormed off to his room.

"Your uniform is gay as well!" Bardock called after him, fuming. _"Humph, 'son' my furry ass!"_

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"Of all things Kami-Damned things!" Raditz shouted, dealing blast after blast to his punching bag. He ripped off the (gay looking) school uniform and put on his usual black T-shirt, black shorts and leather vest.

He screamed loudly and angrily, and zoomed around his room, cursing his father.

Bardock gritted his teeth. "_Bitch". _He thought. Suddenly his communicator started ringing the familiar ringtone "Heartlines." He picked up quickly to avoid having to listen to the song, which he didn't like all too much.

"Wassup Fasha?" he asked his friend, not in a good mood.

"Not too happy about your "son," General?" Fasha obviously asked, knowing the answer.

Bardock sighed. "Not really. Get to the point."

"Well…." She trailed. "I have good news and bad news. The good news is we got a mission to planet Adumintia!"

Bardock jumped with excitement. "Yes!" he cried. He had had his eye on that planet for a while now. "When do we leave?"

Fasha bit her lip on the other side of the communicator. "Um, that's the thing. _We _aren't going anywhere. The rest of the squad and I haven't recovered from the mission last week, remember? The mission to Planet Peridot, where we were almost killed?"

Bardock scratched the back of his head. Riiiiiighhhtt. "Then, no mission?" He asked, disappointed.

Fasha responded sharply. "No, there'll be a mission. If Vegeta finds out we're all immobilized, he'll have our heads! No, no. You have to go with somebody else."

The Saiyan slapped a hand to his head in shock. "B-But Naira's got a virus! Who's left?" he bit his lip and looked towards the Miku poster-covered bedroom door, already knowing the answer.

"You know who, Bardock." Fasha cut in. "He's our last resort, and besides, he got all 'A's in battle school."

Bardock fumbled with his armband. "I-I don't know who you're talking about." He mumbled. _This is gonna be a bad trip._

Fasha let out an exasperated sigh. She rolled her eyes on the other side of the line. "Bardock, you have to bring Raditz."

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**I hope you all enjoyed! Tune into chapter 2, if you wanna cry your eyes out! Bye!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hope u like! This was by far the most… interesting to write, so, enjoy!**

_~Beta-Read By ProjectSSSS123, The Only Bardock Lover~_

Chapter 2: The Youngest Soldier

Bardock trudged into Raditz's room, his tail wrapped around his waist, a reminder that he was done playing around.

The young boy looked up and scowled. He was holding ice to his black eye, which was looking terrible. "What do _you_ want?" he said impatiently. Another black eye? No seeing his girlfriend? Some sort of deadly training?

Bardock growled. "Shut up, pipsqueak, and let _me_ talk." He finished, lashing his tail behind himself.

Raditz rolled his eyes but listened despite himself, not caring for any "words of wisdom" his father shared. He picked up his scouter and started playing with it a bit. _"Humph," _He thought, _"Who cares about HIS wor-"_

"We got a mission," Bardock began, "On Planet Aduminta."

Raditz stopped toying with his scouter and perked up, at full attention now.

Bardock sighed. He couldn't believe he was about to say this. "And…I have to take _you_."

Raditz jumped to his feet, extremely surprised. "But dad!" he gasped. "I'm only twelve! I can't go on missions 'till I'm sixteen! You know that full well!" He wanted to argue more, but that would risk a broken bone next. Pissing off his father would result in _two_ broken bones.

Bardock nonchalantly kicked the doorway. "Yeah, well, my squad are all in the hospital from the LAST mission, and so is your mom from _lukÏ _virus. So, naturally…that leaves us. Hope you plan to have fun." He finished, a devilish smirk growing on his face.

The longhaired boy blinked, looking a bit scared. "The Adumintians are really powerful though!" he exclaimed. Was his father deliberately sending him to his death?

His father only shook his head. He could NOT believe what he was hearing. "Well, if you're too _scared-"_

Raditz stomped on the ground like he had done as a seven year old. "I ain't scared of _nothing,_ bastard!" He said while pointing at his father, forgetting the pain of his eye and replacing it with a hint of Saiyan rage and pride.

Bardock smirked. "That's what I thought." _And nice grammar too,_ He silently added. The sad thing was he wasn't being sarcastic.

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After a tiring flight of Raditz asking every minute "Are we there yet?" and Bardock literally TEARING OUT the communicator, the two made it to Aduminta a couple hours later, and instantly, they were greeted by rain and a fog so thick you could cut it with a knife. They immediately started the killing process on a nearby unsuspecting village.

Five minutes hadn't gone until their task became a good deal harder. Much harder.

"Oh crap…" Bardock mumbled. Never before in the line of work, scratch that, never before in his LIFE had he saw THIS before.

Raditz fired a blast of_ ki_ at a nearby house and looked up. "What is it, da- ohhhhhhh Kami." He was cut off by what he saw next.

An army of at LEAST three hundred blue-skinned Adumintian soldiers were heading their way, and _fast_. Raditz checked his scouter. None had a power level short of two thousand. Two thousand!? There was no WAY that could be right!

Bardock cursed. "Well, kid," He growled. "Time to go into the eye of the storm."

Raditz looked up in shock. He couldn't _believe_ that his father would be tempted to do something so stupid

"No, we should try to do more damage here first." He said matter-of-factly. "That way, we'll do more damage before we wear ourselves out." Raditz thought it was a good plan. However, a more stern and, well, pissed-off saiyan did NOT.

Bardock roared. "Don't defy me!" and yanked the pre-teen boy by the hair towards the advancing army.

"But dad, it's hopeless in there!" Raditz countered, feeling the pain of his long, black hair being tugged from the roots. "I'll probably die or something!" "_Wait," _Raditz remembered with a scowl. "_He wouldn't care."_

"Well, sucks for you!" Bardock countered back, releasing the young boy and making the first strike at one of the planet's residents.

They were greatly outnumbered, but they kept fighting. Raditz blasted a shot of _ki _into a group of soldiers, effectively obliterating all eight. "Yes!" he cried, but his father only glanced over in disapproval.

"You need to aim better! You could've wiped out twenty if you had ANY control over your powers whatsoever."

Raditz frowned. _Why is everything I do or say wrong? _He thought bitterly, ramming his fist into an Adumintian's gut. _Why can't dad just…notice me? For once at least?" _

The two sayians battled hard for three solid hours, harder than they had ever fought before, and they were beginning to get tired. Every now and again, Bardock would shout something hateful to Adumintians, or to his won.

Raditz concentrated hard and fired a weak blast of _ki_ to a particularly strong-looking foe who had red skin instead of blue. The boy could have fired a stronger one, but he was drained like a dead battery and only twelve years old. He collapsed to the ground, the red being planning to run his fist into the poor child's gut, but not when his father came to his "rescue", and turned on his son, not even bothering to help him up.

"IS THAT ALL YOU GOT!?" He spat at the boy in his frustration. "What a disappointment you turned out to be-"

He was cut off by a wave of pain, right in his back. Turning his head around, he noticed that an Adumintian's fist had connected, hard and sure, with his spine. Bardock crumpled to the ground, paralyzed. Only his eyes could move. He looked up to see Raditz, still looking hurt from his father's previous…comment.

"_Shit, what a great way to lose…" _He thought. After all, that's practically what he could only do, think. He tried to focus his _ki_ to the broken spot, to undo even a little bit of damage, but to no avail.

The Adumintian laughed. "Time to finish you!" he sneered, holding up a once-blue fist and aiming fast and low.

Raditz blinked away the pain from his eyes. _"No!"_ He said silently "NO!" he repeated, this time out loud, and he brought his elbow down on back of the aliens neck, effectively knocking him out.

Would the aliens let some _kid_ take them all out? Hell no.

Adumintians swarmed the boy, for they all assumed Bardock was dead. The sayian could only watch as his son was dragged, kicking and screaming, into the fog. He was able to once get up and knock out another alien, but was just beat back down to the ground, dragged by his now broken arm.

_No!_ Bardock didn't want an insult to be the last thing his son ever heard from him, but there was nothing he could do about it. He could hear Raditz's voice getting weaker and further away. Finally it stopped moving away, but Bardock could hear agonized screams from the voice he had known for twelve years.

"HELP! HELP! DAD! SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! PLEASE HELP ME! DAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"

Even though in past missions, he had heard many screams and pleas, Bardock couldn't stand to listen to those of his son, as the cries got weaker and quieter as the child began to realize he was doomed. He stood no chance of defeating them all.

_He's just a kid!_ Bardock wanted to scream.

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Slowly and achingly, an hour passed, with not a single cry of pain, a plea, or any sort of explosion.

It was the silence of nothingness, except for the shallow sound of rain onto the bloodied ground. The fog was so thick now; one person without keen eyes would be blinded.

Bardock began to regain the ability to move. He started by twitching his fingers, and soon was able to shamble to his feet. He immediately pelted out into the fog where he had last heard the screams, his mind rapidly racing.

"Raditz!?" he desperately called. "Raditz!? Where are you!?"

He knew what he would find, but he tried not to think about it.

He heard a slight gag and a cough. He made a beeline for the sound, and what he saw was… nightmarish.

Raditz was lying, crumpled and twisted, in a puddle of rain. His blood was slowly turning it red. Bardock fell to his knees and took the boy in his arms, studying the damage.

Calling Raditz a wreck would be an _EXTREME_ understatement. The boy had a gouge from his temple almost to the corner of his lip. Bardock could see his bloody teeth through the rip in his cheek, and a few were missing. The top of his armor was broken, leaving his chest bare. There was splintered wood sticking out of his ribs, where a spear must have broken away. His head was split; blood was clumping in his spiked black hair. All the rest of him was cut up and demolished.

And of course, he had a black eye.

Raditz blinked and blearily looked up. He could see his father, and he could feel a hand cradling his neck. Bardock had tears forming in his eyes and was crying out. "Raditz, c'mon man, answer me! Can you hear me!?"

Raditz took a long, rattling breath that caused him extreme anguish, since the spear had pierced his lung. Coughing up more blood, he turned his head towards his father, his eyes partially closed.

Bardock sighed in relief. At least he was breathing. "Can you hear me?"

Raditz would have responded, but it hurt too much. _Dad?_ the thought flickered in his mind, like a slowly extinguishing candle.

Bardock shook his head. "Raditz…I-I should have protected you... I-I'm your dad. I'm sorry. I…I…I love you."

The boy looked at his father harder, a sad, defeated look in his ebony eyes. There was only a small, miniscule undertone of hope. "You love me?" He barely rasped. "F-for real?"

Tears came to Bardock's eyes and he nodded. "Of…of course Raditz. You're my son. If only I..."

The boy blinked. He cut off his father. "I tried…so…hard. W-Was I good enough?"

His breathing was getting shallower and a milky glaze began to form over his eyes. _"I'm not ready to die…"_

His father felt a lump rise in his throat, and he tried not to sob. "You were brilliant. I-I'm so proud of you."

Raditz would have smiled, if it weren't for the cut in his cheeks. His eyes smiled, though. Bardock could tell.

"I don't wanna die, dad." He coughed, and blood splattered out of his mouth. "I'm not ready to die."

"Then don't!" Bardock pleaded, but it was useless. Raditz was too far-gone to save. _If only I was stronger, I could've...saved you, Raditz._

Raditz smiled, for real, with his tattered face and all. "I finally got your attention, didn't I? So," he weakly said, chuckling, "Will mom be okay without me?" Blood began to fall from his eyes in replacement to tears. "And June?"

Bardock smiled warmly, but it was hard when happiness was the last thing on his mind. _Oh Kami, what will I tell Naira?_

Raditz coughed up blood again. "I-I love you da-" he stammered, but never finished. His eyes glazed over, and his trembling body became still.

"No...no...Raditz...RADITZ!" Bardock screamed, throwing his head back. "I'M SORRY!"

He was only twelve! Tears were falling freely from Bardock's eyes, and when he began to get a strange sensation. Power was pumping through his veins, charging his blood and fueling his hate. Pure strength ripped at him, and he didn't have to look at himself to know what happened. Nonetheless, he was glowing.

He gently closed the poor boy's eyes and placed him on the soggy ground.

The Super Saiyan looked to the stars_. I hope you're up there, Raditz. _He prayed. I_ WILL avenge you. Don't lose hope. We will see each other again someday. I'll be waiting, my son." _And with that, he plowed into the mist to destroy the monsters that took his son's life.

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_**And on THAT "cheery" note, be sure to tune into the great finale, Chapter 3, Revival. The great finale that I wrote whilst sitting upon my bedroom floor instead of doing something productive with my life XD I hope you liked it mah buddiezzzz**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter, I understand it was….. Traumatizing XD**

**Well, My friend ProjectSSSS123 wrote the flashback scene in this chapter and beta-read it. The rest was me :3 (well, with her Beta-reading XD)**

**Enjoy!**

_~Beta-Read by ProjectSSSS123, the only Bardock lover~_

Chapter 3: Revival

Running. Running through the crying heavens and the thick fog. He needed to avenge his son, even if it cost him his life. There was only one moment in his life that he was kind to Raditz. It was vague, but had surfaced itself.

"_Hey dad?" A four-year-old Raditz asked curiously. When his father didn't respond, he unraveled his tail from the ground and waved it in his father's face._

_He was fast asleep._

_Raditz laughed. He knew what he would do. He got up onto the top of the dark red couch and brought his tail into his father's face, but he quickly lost his balance, giving his father an accidental tail-smack. Bardock reacted by leaning forward, rubbing the spot on his visage that had turned slightly red. He turned on his son, eyes flaring._

"_What in the great Hell are you doing, Raditz!?" He yelled, glaring as the young four-year-old carelessly tumbled onto the ground. The child leaned forward and looked at his father, his innocent eyes boring holes into his soul._

"_Daddy…I just wanted to ask you something!" He sniffed. He got up to his feet and tightly hugged his father's legs. "It's only a _small_ question after all!" He looked like he was about to cry and gave his best innocent face ever._

_Bardock gave a long, exasperated sigh. One of these days, his son would be able to move out and leave him alone. Peace and quiet would be nice. But for now…_

_Bardock loosed the child's grip from his dirt-stained pants and sat back down onto the couch. "What is it?" he asked with a smile._

_Raditz came and sat on the floor, happily looking up to his father. He lurched his head forward, grinning, and his eyes were twinkling. _

"_Tell me about the legend again!"_

"_I already told you Raditz!" His father countered, "It's just a story. _You_ tell it to me."_

"_But…but…" Raditz stammered, "It's better when _you_ tell it, 'tousan!"_

_After a long, exasperated sigh escaped his father, "Fine. I'll tell it." (Cue "We Gotta Power"). Shifting slightly, Bardock began to tell the story, as Raditz listened in excitement._

"_Long ago, there was a legendary person who was sent to avenge anyone who had died. He was a savior among his people, but no one ever saw him. According to the legends, this person could only stay in this form for so long, so whenever he fought, no one saw it, for this hero moved blindingly fast. It is said that the hero who unlocks this power without the mental capacity can only be in it for-"_

"Ten minutes!" Bardock repeated the words, for they had been drilled into his head. "So," He said with a smirk, "I won't remember all of this either, for I don't have the mental capacity! Ten minutes is worth it for you, Raditz! _Ten minutes_ gives me enough time!"

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Bardock charged through the fog, engulfed in _ki_ and fury. A last, he heard voices of soldiers nearby. Finally!

"Haha! Stupid kid!" one laughed. "Did you see his face when my spear went through his ribs? Priceless!"

Another one responded. "Yeah, ha, and were you even listening to his screams?" the Adumintian put on a mock-high voice. "Daddy, pweez hewp me! Oh Daddy, the big meanie-heads huwt my wittle face!" He laughed hysterically, as did his comrades.

Another one cut in. "Isn't his father dead now? Wasn't his father named after some sort of root? Besides that point though, I thought these Saiyans were tough!"

The last one threw his head into a good laugh. "Maybe WE should invade them!"

"Yeah, if they're anything like that prick of a boy, it should be easy!"

Bardock growled, seething hatred boiled in his veins. _I WON'T let you dishonor his memory!_

And with that, the vengeful Super Saiyan lunged forward, blasting fiery bolts of energy at the astounded soldiers. How DARE they...! They don't deserve to live.

They die, every single one of those sons of bitches!

"COVER! GET TO COV-!" one shouted, but it was too late. He had gone up in flames like the rest.

By the end of a five minute massacre, the has-been soldiers were lying, either dead or slowly bleeding out onto the dusty ground. The ones who had mocked Raditz were the latter.

One of the soldiers turned around, seeing only a dark, deep shadow of a outline of a figure, his eyes a cold teal color mixed with red. He didn't last long, for he was immediately killed.

Bardock swept himself quickly to the nearest town, where he killed without mercy. There wasn't so much as a drop of blood left unspilled by the end of it all.

After the planet was eradicated, the fog finally cleared, but the sky still held a lonely shade of brown. _"There. Planet is gone. Son, you've been avenged." _

He leaned back against a tall rock, feeling satisfied, but not when he suddenly felt his power level decreasing. His aura, which was powerful at first, slowly began to fade into a darker shade of gold, softening.

"_No!"_ He thought. "_I have to find Raditz before I forget he died!"_

Bardock zipped through the haze until he found the broken body of the child. He gently rested a hand on the boy's tattered shoulder. He had a red band strung across his arm to hide a brutal scar he got once when he was whipped, a detail his father now acknowledged with bitter regret.

He blinked. He guessed he should bury the chi- _"Wait!"_ Something strange was happening. Bardock's golden _ki _was radiating around the boy, and the nasty rip on his battered face was beginning to recede.

"_Can I..? Am I…..? Yes...!"_

Bardock began to focus all his energy to the wounds on Raditz, placing his hands right onto Raditz's heart center. The terrible wounds began to heal slowly, but the Super Saiyan wouldn't be a Super Sayian for much longer. He could feel himself getting weaker.

"_Come on, Raditz. Get up! I _know_ your soul is in there somewhere. I'm gonna wake it up if it's the last thing I do!"_

After a minute, nothing happened.

At last the father could try no longer. He sighed a defeated sigh, too tired to continue, and rapidly returning to his normal form. He turned his head away...

And out the corner of his eyes, he saw small, crumpled fingers twitch.

Raditz began stirring, first groaning, and finally, after a long sigh, he passed out, a faint smile on his face.

"_No way..." _The now exhausted warrior thought. He put his head against his son's chest.

_His heart was beating again._

After a long, surprised silence, a spark of electricity escaped Bardock's body, as he began to drop into his base form. His aura faded into a blue color, then a soft, white color, and finally it faded. He gave a faint smile, and fell backwards. He thought he had heard something before he passed out, but it was faint, vague, but present.

"There...is! Ba...k, hey...Ba-"

_Thump..._

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Shifting slightly, Raditz gently popped open one one, his vision still foggy. It was blurry, but he swore he saw a white roof, not a dark grey sky, or...or...

Or that golden color.

He popped his other eye open, and, with shock, realized he wasn't on the planet anymore, lying in a pool of his own blood, the life ebbing away from him.

He. Wasn't. Dead!

Sitting up, he realized that he was in some sort of soft bed, partially damp. Ok, so he was put into a medical machine. His mind still couldn't comprehend what had happened. He saw the light...

"_Come, Raditz, come to the Overworld... come, young one."_

_Floating, flying high, a halo beginning to form, graceful clouds swirling. Yes... a place of no rejection, where he could be loved._

"_DON'T, RADITZ!" A voice shouted._

_Raditz flicked his head towards the sound, and what he saw...was beyond his imagination._

_A shadow, a figure, dark, but engulfed in a golden aura. "Is this...Kami?"_

"_Don't go Raditz! Come back to life! I know you're soul's in there, and I'm gonna wake it up if it's the last thing I do!"_

_A blinding flash of white light engulfed the place..._

And that was it.

Raditz shook his head in major confusion. _"What...WAS that?"_ "I was dead, I know I was... so how..." He thought out loud. He flicked his head to the right.

And noticed his father, with the same look on his face.

"Dad! You're alive as well!" Raditz gasped.

Bardock gave a side glance to Raditz. _"What in the high Hell happened? I was...it was... All I remember is that moment."_

"_Dad, I'm not ready to die."_

"_Then don't!"_

Bardock's eyes shot wide open. "No way," He whispered. "Is this the afterlife? No, I'm alive, I know it." Casting a side glance again towards his son, he now noticed that he was limping towards his father.

"Raditz, what're you-"

_Shffff..._

"Dad..." Raditz's voice cracked, "I'm so happy you're alive..." He hugged his father tighter. "I thought you were dead..."

_Why is he hugging me? It's not like I _would_ die or anything...wait..._

"_Shit, what a great way to lose..."_

"Raditz..." Bardock began, lurching his head back slightly, "Did I die?" He finished with squinted eyes.

"You almost did. The last thing I remembered was a golden light, and then I...saw the light, but another light burned brighter..."

"_...I'll find your soul if it's the last thing I do!"_

_Raditz squinted his eyes at the figure._

"_Dad..."_

"Dad..." Raditz began, a tear in his eye, "_You_ saved me from dying!"

"I...I..." Bardock was at a loss for words. All he could do was return the hug.

Father and son. Son and father. Wow...

_Click..._

Both saiyans turned their heads to the doorway, where Tora stood with a camera. "Hehe...I can't wait to show this to the group!"

As quickly as his embarrassment had rose, Bardock fazed behind Tora, crossing his arms.

"I'll take that, thanks."

"Nu-uh!" Tora countered, "This is comedy gold! It's going on SpaceTube and SpaceBook!"

"No way, bastard!"

The two then swiped at each other in a chibi-way (like in anime). Raditz only stifled a minor laugh, but internally, he was thinking.

_Dad...I know you don't realize, but you're a Super Saiyan. I need to keep it a secret, because you'd only beat yourself up for being so weak. Ah dad...you old man, you._

After Tora left with a partially destroyed camera, Bardock turned to his son, a bit of satisfaction in his voice."Y'know," He began, "We _are_ in the hospital. What do you say we go visit your mother?" He laughed half-heartedly. "She's probably waiting, after all."

Raditz smiled a broad natural smile, not brought upon by pain or death. It was the first time he smiled like that to his father in over five years. "Sounds good, Dad." The two walked side-by-side in the hallways. Living shadows of fate, pain, and strength.

_**FIN**_

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

**I hope you like it! It took SSSS and me….. LONGER than it should have to finish this, and I like how it turned out. Cya fanfic buddies.**

_**-Long Live Raditz, Ice**_


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